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Lut Vanautgaerden

Lut Vanautgaerden

Biography:

"Working Process" is the most accurate description of the continuous search for possibilities to add new dimensions to the collage-technique. Cut, Copy and Paste are actions allowing us to manipulate our experience of reality. These actions also refer to the current culture of zapping and surfing as a tool for communication and gathering information. The paintings and collages are the result of this working process; the installation is a powerful tool to assemble these elements and connect with the space around it in order to form one single entity.

Paintings are for the artist a mean of expression of the constant search for materializing or rather visualizing the world that surrounds us; a personal view of reality. These scatters of impressions present themselves as a rhizome (rootstock); they originate from photographic materials, the open space is merely a coincidence of the creative process. The painting itself,at the end, stands on its own, as a new substance.

With her blog, Lut Vanautgaerden allows us to be the spectator of her critical view of a community, questioning reality and interpretation. It gives you a glimpse of the intimacy of her creative process.

Text:

In her work, Lut Vanautgaerden reflects on contemporary zapping culture by harnessing the potential of collage. Every day, we make a selection from an abundance of images, so that only a fraction of them actually enters our mind. At the same time, the images that we see are, to a large extent, manipulated. Thus the reality presented to us by mass media does not always correspond to our own reality. Lut Vanautgaerden takes over these techniques of cutting, pasting and processing and thus creates her own compositions that refer to personal memories and experiences. In contrast to what we are accustomed to, she makes the game of manipulation visible. The viewer is not absorbed by an image, but is aware of the potential for deception. The various different media used by artist are closely connected. Paintings are often created on the basis of previous collages, which are, in turn, the result of self-made or found photographs. These sometimes become part of larger, site-specific installations in which the artist optically lengthens the exhibition spaces. However, these trompe l’oeils have an alienating effect, because a number of elements shatter the illusion. In her quest to create even more distance between so-called ‘reality’ and the viewer, the artist has made a video of previous installations. This recently introduced medium wants – to an even greater extent than painting – to be believable. However, as it is simply one of the many phases in an entire creative process, the video is the furthest removed from the source of inspiration that is often still visible in the collages.